Featured Site
Marking 175 Years
Learn about Michigan Medicine's plans to celebrate the 175th anniversary of U-M's Medical School with stories from its history, including details from the archives.
Learn more
News
At Freeman Field
Discover how archived records at the Bentley show that a 1945 protest led by officers on Indiana’s Freeman Field ultimately paved the way for desegregation in the military.
Complete Story
Stay Connected
Belford Lawson Jr. was the first Black lawyer to win a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. As a student at the University of Michigan, Lawson was part of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, played football in the early 1920s, and was a prize-winning orator. After earning his B.A. at U-M, he earned his law degree from Howard University Law School. Arguing for equal treatment for Black travelers on the railroad, and the ability to picket companies that discriminate against Black workers, Lawson was able to win important legal victories for civil rights in the U.S. He was elected the General President of Alpha Phi Alpha in 1946.
You can learn more about Belford Lawson Jr. in the article “The Business of the Hour,” by Greg Kinney, which uses materials from the archives at the Bentley to showcase Lawson’s remarkable life, the difficulties he faced, and the important work he did.
📸: The National Museum of American History
Belford Lawson Jr. was the first Black lawyer to win a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. As a student at the University of Michigan, Lawson was part of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, played football in the early 1920s, and was a prize-winning orator. After earning his B.A. at U-M, he earned his law degree from Howard University Law School. Arguing for equal treatment for Black travelers on the railroad, and the ability to picket companies that discriminate against Black workers, Lawson was able to win important legal victories for civil rights in the U.S. He was elected the General President of Alpha Phi Alpha in 1946.
You can learn more about Belford Lawson Jr. in the article “The Business of the Hour,” by Greg Kinney, which uses materials from the archives at the Bentley to showcase Lawson’s remarkable life, the difficulties he faced, and the important work he did.
📸: The National Museum of American History
Flashback to U-M’s Coliseum ice rink! 🏒
The U-M Coliseum was actually built on the site of a prior local ice rink called Weinberg`s Coliseum, which had relied on cold winter air to freeze the ice! ❄️
As you can imagine, this made the ice quite patchy.
U-M added artificial ice to the rebuilt Coliseum rink in the late 1920s (to the sincere relief of the ice hockey players!)
The rebuilt Coliseum remained the home of U-M ice hockey for well over 40 years, before being turned into a gymnasium.
Today, this building is used by Intramural and Club Sports at U-M!
📸: News & Information Photo Collection circa 1958, and Athletic Department records circa 1923
#UMich #IceHockey #SportsHistory #GoBlue #IceRink #FlashbackFriday
Flashback to U-M’s Coliseum ice rink! 🏒
The U-M Coliseum was actually built on the site of a prior local ice rink called Weinberg`s Coliseum, which had relied on cold winter air to freeze the ice! ❄️
As you can imagine, this made the ice quite patchy.
U-M added artificial ice to the rebuilt Coliseum rink in the late 1920s (to the sincere relief of the ice hockey players!)
The rebuilt Coliseum remained the home of U-M ice hockey for well over 40 years, before being turned into a gymnasium.
Today, this building is used by Intramural and Club Sports at U-M!
📸: News & Information Photo Collection circa 1958, and Athletic Department records circa 1923
#UMich #IceHockey #SportsHistory #GoBlue #IceRink #FlashbackFriday
Throwback to U-M’s first buildings in Ann Arbor! 🏠
Did you know that the first official U-M buildings built on the Ann Arbor campus were actually houses?
These four structures, known as the “Professors’ Houses,” were approved for construction over 180 years ago! 🕑
They not only served as homes to U-M’s earliest professors, but also housed things like the early “library,” which was a small collection of books, at the time, stored on temporary shelves.
Over the years, these buildings were transformed as the university expanded! Dentistry, medical care, psychology, and pathology were all studied in the Professors’ Houses over the course of U-M’s history.
One of these buildings even went on to become the U-M President’s House!
That makes the U-M President’s House, which still survives today, one of the oldest buildings on U-M’s Ann Arbor campus!
📸: Jasper Cropsey painting of U-M’s early campus, and a circa 1925 photo of the U-M President’s House from the U-M Photo Vertical Files
#TBT #UMich #AnnArbor #MichiganHistory #Campus
Throwback to U-M’s first buildings in Ann Arbor! 🏠
Did you know that the first official U-M buildings built on the Ann Arbor campus were actually houses?
These four structures, known as the “Professors’ Houses,” were approved for construction over 180 years ago! 🕑
They not only served as homes to U-M’s earliest professors, but also housed things like the early “library,” which was a small collection of books, at the time, stored on temporary shelves.
Over the years, these buildings were transformed as the university expanded! Dentistry, medical care, psychology, and pathology were all studied in the Professors’ Houses over the course of U-M’s history.
One of these buildings even went on to become the U-M President’s House!
That makes the U-M President’s House, which still survives today, one of the oldest buildings on U-M’s Ann Arbor campus!
📸: Jasper Cropsey painting of U-M’s early campus, and a circa 1925 photo of the U-M President’s House from the U-M Photo Vertical Files
#TBT #UMich #AnnArbor #MichiganHistory #Campus
Did you know that dog sleds were sometimes used to deliver mail during snowy Michigan winters, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries? 🐶
It’s true! This post office in Cheboygan used dog sleds to deliver mail to places like Walkers Point on the nearby island of Bois Blanc, relying on a winter ice bridge to cross the water.
Here, you can see a historical dog pulling a U.S. mail sled from Cheboygan, circa 1910!
The use of dog sleds to deliver winter mail was often limited to specific regions in Michigan, and largely petered out over the years, but the memory of this unusual period of Michigan history is preserved in photos like this one!
📸: Historical Postcard Collection
#DYK #MichiganHistory #Dog #OldPhoto #HistoricalPostcard #Cheboygan #Winter
Did you know that dog sleds were sometimes used to deliver mail during snowy Michigan winters, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries? 🐶
It’s true! This post office in Cheboygan used dog sleds to deliver mail to places like Walkers Point on the nearby island of Bois Blanc, relying on a winter ice bridge to cross the water.
Here, you can see a historical dog pulling a U.S. mail sled from Cheboygan, circa 1910!
The use of dog sleds to deliver winter mail was often limited to specific regions in Michigan, and largely petered out over the years, but the memory of this unusual period of Michigan history is preserved in photos like this one!
📸: Historical Postcard Collection
#DYK #MichiganHistory #Dog #OldPhoto #HistoricalPostcard #Cheboygan #Winter